His assignment seemed clear and simple: go to a large sea port and make disciples of sailors.
So, he went, he worked hard, he failed………at least he thought so. After months of intense prayer and strenuous labor, he phoned the person who trained him and reported only one sailor showed interest in becoming a committed disciple of Jesus Christ. One. (oh, and by the way, nine teenagers also showed great interest and potential – but he wasn’t sent to that city to work with teenagers – so did they really matter?)
“Stay where you are and focus on those who show interest” responded his trainer.
Fast forward: who did that sailor who showed so much interest turn out to be? The number one discipleship trainer for a great evangelist. And those nine teenagers? All of them became missionaries serving on four continents. Did God know what He was doing in having that man focus on so few? You bet!
Zechariah 4:10 “Who has despised the day of small things?” All of us can probably plead guilty to that charge. Why do we choose to forget that the best Teacher this world has ever seen spoke to the masses but focused primarily on just twelve men. Twelve! But that strategy worked!
Big doors swing on small hinges, and that prevents any of us from thinking that pouring ourselves into just a few people is a waste. God delights in doing amazing things in amazing ways.